Song and Dance

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Song and Dance is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Don Black (lyrics). What is remarkable is that the first act ( song ) of the work is sung in its entirety, while the second act ( dance ) consists mainly of dance performances .

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The first part of the work consists of the song cycle Tell Me On a Sunday , composed by Webber in 1979 , which tells the story of an initially nameless young Englishwoman who is in New York and California in search of love. This part of the musical represents a so-called “one-woman-show”: The female lead forms the center of the plot, sings all the songs and is continuously present on stage.

The second part consists of the Variations , originally a cello concerto that Andrew Lloyd Webber had composed in 1978 for his brother Julian Lloyd Webber (Variations on Niccolò Paganini's famous theme of Caprice in A minor). This is choreographed in the musical by a dance ensemble .

Both parts are brought together in the finale "When You Want To Fall In Love", in which the leading actress of the first act sings to a melody from the second act (from the 5th variation), to a final conclusion. This song is also known with other lyrics as "Unexpected Song" and was released as a single under this title .

Productions

The first performance of the musical took place on March 26, 1982 at the Palace Theater in London's West End . Marti Webb , who also lent her voice to the recording of Tell Me On a Sunday 1979 , took on the female lead . Sarah Brightman later played this role among others . The male lead of the main dancer in the second act took on Wayne Sleep , who had previously celebrated successes in the premiere cast of Cats . This production ran for 781 performances until March 31, 1984.

On September 18, 1985, the Broadway premiere took place at New York's Royale Theater . The revised version used for this was only moderately successful with 474 performances. After all, Bernadette Peters won a Tony Award for her role as Emma (the name given to the main female character in this production) .

A US tour and several international productions followed.

The German-language premiere took place in 1987 as a tour production with Angelika Milster in the leading role at the Deutsches Theater in Munich . The German translation came from Michael Kunze .

music

1st act (“Song”)

  • Overture
  • Take That Look Off Your Face
  • Let me finish
  • It's Not The End of The World // So Much to Do in New York *
  • Letter Home
  • Sheldon Bloom // English Girls *
  • Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad
  • You Made Me Think You Were In Love
  • Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad (reprise)
  • It's Not The End of The World (If He's Younger) // So Much to Do in New York (II) *
  • Second letter home
  • The Last Man in my Life // Unexpected Song *
  • Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes
  • Let's Talk About You // Take That Look Off Your Face (Reprise) *
  • Tell Me On a Sunday
  • I love New York
  • I'm Very You, You're Very Me // So Much to Do in New York (III) *
  • Married man
  • Third Letter Home
  • Nothing Like You've Ever Known
  • Let Me Finish (reprise)
  • Take That Look Off Your Face (Reprise)

* Title in the Broadway version

2nd act ("Dance")

  • Variations 1 - 23
  • When You Want to Fall in Love (or Unexpected Song, see above)

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